Master of Kaidan
Chapter 212: A Wasted Effort

Chapter 212: Chapter 212: A Wasted Effort

"I’m going to school, of course! Even though I’ve been recommended, my parents don’t seem to trust it. They always tell me to network and seem to want me to take a civil service exam... Right! The finals are next week... What are you saying? I’m not going to run away from home!"

Chen Xiyao vented her pre-exam stress with an expressive face on the phone. Just then, the dormitory door was carefully pushed open, and she saw her most familiar member of the Kaidan Countermeasure Bureau—Lin Wenxue.

The other person gestured for silence as quietly as possible, picked up a sign, and showed the text on it to Chen Xiyao. Instantly, Chen Xiyao’s eyes turned sharp...

...

Listening to his master chatter on the phone, Liu Qi’s expression grew complicated. The image of Feng Xue as a reclusive expert collapsed in an instant, accompanied by a strong curiosity—

Could the caller be the master’s wife?

From what the master was saying, the other person was still studying?

If it’s a university student, that’s fine, but if it’s a high school or even a middle school student...

Tsk!

Brutal!

That’s just too brutal!

But a martial arts expert and a high school girl, that pairing does seem quite fitting for a ship... The bodyguard of the school belle?

Liu Qi thought this story could become popular, quickly took out his phone, and jotted down his inspiration.

Although it was about time to prepare for tomorrow’s update, when creativity strikes, you have to write a new book outline!

But the master is a bit old, so if he met her at school, would he be a gym teacher?

Hmm, running away from home...

Picking up a runaway high school girl, wouldn’t that be too much like a light novel?

How about changing the setting?

Art comes from life but is higher than life!

Right, make the master a bit younger and add a hermit family. Oh, the identity also needs changing; warrior king stories are overdone. How about an assassin?

Right! The "Libra" assassin is quite popular now. They say three of the governors of Columbia have been killed... Yes, a retired executioner... No, executioner doesn’t sound cool enough. Swearer! Yes, the youngest Libra Swearer!

Later, someone would hire an unknown executioner to kill him, and in a follow-up investigation, there could be something like, "The three-year term is up. Please, Swearer, come back."

As Liu Qi thought about this, his literary inspiration flowed like a spring. It seemed like all the jokes he’d accumulated over the years could be thrown in...

While he was writing feverishly, the conversation on the other side suddenly fell silent.

The sudden silence caught Liu Qi slightly by surprise, and he felt as though something was about to happen. He immediately looked up and heard an emotional question from his master’s phone—

"Is someone else there with you?"

"What the hell? How did she know? And that tone... Am I being mistaken for a mistress? Why does this feel so awkward!"

Feng Xue wasn’t concerned with what Liu Qi was thinking. He just remarked with slight surprise:

"You could actually sense it? Looks like you haven’t been slacking off lately!"

"Of course! I’ve been practicing every day!" Chen Xiyao said a bit sheepishly and then added casually, "Speaking of which, there’s been some progress in completing the ’Star Song.’ How should I give it to you?"

"Oh? How did you manage that?" Feng Xue was genuinely surprised this time. Although he believed in official power, the numerology required by Star Song and modern astronomy were very different.

Relying on various reference books and the aid of the Achievement System, he made some improvements to Star Song, but Chen Xiyao had results...

Could it be that Chen Xiyao was one of those with a highly innate numerology talent?

After all, she should also have an Achievement System, and if her innate talent was high enough, it was possible to grasp things by analogy through reading.

But Chen Xiyao didn’t claim the credit and gave a logical answer instead:

"It wasn’t me. It’s the observatory’s achievement. They’ve compiled all recorded star formations and astronomical phenomena mentioned in literature, combined with Earth’s revolution and rotation and current star movement patterns, to create a dynamic model. Then, by comparing the model’s movements with the Secret Manual I copied, they extracted the corresponding parts.

"Up to now, we’ve found twenty-three star maps with some degree of relevance. I’ve already tested them, and about nineteen of these star maps can enhance the practice progress of Star Song. The rest might be due to errors I made when copying the book. However, the comparison isn’t over yet, so there should be more in the future."

"That’s really impressive. By the way, your copy was a bit hazy. I’ll send the full version to you later, and you can just text me the star maps."

Feng Xue was impressed by the observatory’s approach, not because he hadn’t thought of it, but because he simply didn’t have the resources to do it.

Running the Stars’ rudimentary star map for too long could overload the graphics card, and creating a dynamic model out of thousands of years of star maps requires rigorous computational and algorithmic capabilities. Without state apparatus intervention, it’s almost impossible to achieve results so quickly.

"Okay, I’ll text you later." Chen Xiyao smiled gently, delighted she could finally be of help to Feng Xue. But soon, she felt a nudge on her shin and looked up to see Lin Wenxue pointing at the text on the whiteboard and giving her a look.

Seeing the string of words, Chen Xiyao’s face darkened again, and she quickly said:

"Do you think I’m an easy-to-trick woman?"

"Huh?" Feng Xue was puzzled by Chen Xiyao’s sudden change in expression, but she continued talking to herself:

"Using practice to change the topic is too sneaky! How is this any different from those parents who change the topic to grades?!"

"Uh..." Feng Xue saw Liu Qi struggling to hold back his laughter and glared at him. He then felt his [Scandalous Boyfriend] label gather a few more traces of [Identity] and sighed helplessly:

"Do you think the scandal hasn’t become outrageous enough?"

"Scandal or whatever..." Chen Xiyao really couldn’t bear to hear this, and her expression immediately turned sullen, making Lin Wenxue across from her feel like covering her face.

But Lin Wenxue reacted quickly, lightly kicked Chen Xiyao again, reminding this love-struck girl to get back to business.

Unexpectedly, before Chen Xiyao could open her mouth again, Feng Xue coolly said:

"Though at this moment, saying ’What does that have to do with you?’ should be very impactful. For the sake of our life-and-death friendship, I’ll explain it—

"This fool next to me is a guy. I met him while traveling, saw some potential in him, and thought of taking on a disciple..."